Larnell Lewis

About

The artist

Larnell Lewis is a Toronto drummer, composer, producer, bandleader, and educator. He developed his rhythmic language through church music and later studied at Humber College, where he received the Oscar Peterson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music in 2004. A 2011 encounter with Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League at Toronto's Rex Hotel led to substitute performances and then a long-standing place among the ensemble's drummers. Snarky Puppy's current roster continues to list Lewis and describes him as a GRAMMY Award-winning musician with a practice spanning performance, composition, production, and education. Lewis released his first principal solo album, In the Moment, in June 2018. Its ten original compositions move among contemporary jazz, funk, gospel, and Caribbean rhythmic ideas. The album earned a 2019 JUNO nomination for Jazz Album of the Year: Solo. Relive the Moment followed in November 2020, reworking material from the debut around newly recorded live drum performances. Slice of Life arrived in March 2024 as a six-track reflection on transition, gratitude, and family. The artist-controlled Bandcamp credits Lewis on drums throughout, with additional keyboard, electric bass, programming, and field-recording work. The album received a 2025 JUNO nomination in the same solo jazz category. In November 2024, Lewis and steelpan artist Joy Lapps released The Caribbean Christmas Mixtape, Vol. 1, a nine-song co-billed album shaped by their Afro-Caribbean Canadian experience. The exact Spotify identity currently contains 10 distinct principal album and single containers in the Canadian market from June 2018 through November 2024: four provider-classified albums and six provider-classified singles. MusicList preserves Spotify's container classifications and does not fold featured appearances into that principal-catalog count. Lewis's work also extends beyond his own releases. He served as musical director for a performance connected to the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of the Quincy Jones documentary Quincy, and he remains a current member of Snarky Puppy. Humber identifies him as current faculty, while the National Arts Centre's biography, updated in June 2026, lists Toronto and links the same official website, Spotify, Bandcamp, and social identities. The Canada Black Music Archives independently describes him as Toronto-based. Toronto Arts Foundation named Lewis the 2017 recipient of its Emerging Jazz Artist Award. Professional messages can begin on the Connect page of his official website or through the artist-controlled Bandcamp contact route. MusicList does not republish private or direct contact details. Spotify media is rendered live with provider attribution and a monogram fallback.